CNN Money: Top business headlines for April 8

NEW YORK (CNN) -- CNN Money's Maribel Aber has your top business and financial news on this Monday, April 8.

Fed minutes could give dollar a lift Currency investors are awaiting the publication this week of the minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting, which may provide some clarity on when the central bank will begin to ratchet down its bond buying. While the Federal Open Market Committee voted to maintain its monthly purchases of $85 billion a month in securities at the March meeting, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said in his news conference afterward that some participants discussed the costs of maintaining the program.

Retail jobs take a big hitHiring at the nation's retail stores took a sharp drop last month, reversing several months of gains in what had been one of the economy's bright spots. The number of retail jobs dropped by over 24,000 in March, according to the latest jobs report from the Department of Labor. It was the largest decline from any sector last month in an overall jobs report that was largely disappointing. Economists blamed the poor retail performance on colder-than-normal temperatures for much of the country in March, as well as possible fallout from the tax hikes and layoffs from the government's ongoing fiscal woes.

Lasting memories? The Sears Portrait Studio shuts down The lights have gone off on another American tradition. The photographer that ran the portrait studios at Sears Holdings Corp., SHLD -2.12% Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT +0.25% and Babies "R" Us abruptly closed its business, at least temporarily ending a longtime retail tradition at those stores. CPI Corp., CPIC -13.04% in a statement on its website, said it closed all of its U.S. studios "after many years of providing family portrait photography." The St. Louis-based company didn't explain the hasty closure, and calls to CPI went unanswered.

No bones about it: KFC goes bonelessIn an astonishing brand reversal, KFC is about to stake its future on a red-hot concept that might have caused Colonel Sanders, himself, to see red: boneless chicken. KFC, the chicken kingpin desperately in search of a new identity, on Friday, will announce plans to roll out Original Recipe Boneless - a chicken platform that executives insist may be the brand's most important step forward since it was founded more than 60 years ago.